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Donald Trump‘s campaign is asserting its right to use Foo Fighters‘ “My Hero” at events despite the band’s public denunciation of the campaign’s prior use of the track. “We have a license to play the song,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung wrote in an email to The Hill. Additionally, he tweeted at the band, using puns of the […]
Taylor Swift doesn’t need to endorse Kamala Harris for her fans to rally around the Democratic nominee. Many of them already are, mobilizing on behalf of the VP under the name Swifties for Kamala.
In a recent interview with Cosmopolitan, a few of the organization’s leaders shared that they don’t particularly care if or when the 34-year-old pop star publicly supports Harris, because their movement is much bigger than that. As 21-year-old Rohan Reagan explained to the publication, “We are doing this outside of her, using the platform of Swifties as a way to get people involved in the election.”
“Taylor did throw her support toward Joe Biden during the 2020 election, so it is possible that she’ll show her support again,” Reagan continued. “But Swifties for Kamala aren’t waiting for her to do that.”
Co-founder Irene Kim, 29, added, “We’re not trying to make her do anything — we do not speak for Taylor. Our movement is about the power of our community and how we can mobilize together.”
The interview comes about a month after President Biden dropped out of the 2024 race, appointing his second-in-command to take over the ticket. Since then, Harris has selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate and officially accepted her nomination for president at the Democratic National Convention — but Swift has yet to publicly show support for the attorney-turned-politician. There was a moment earlier this month when many fans believed the “Anti-Hero” singer subtly embraced Harris by posting an Eras Tour photo with what appeared to be a Kamala look-alike in the background, but so far, there have been no signs that it was purposeful.
Even so, many other musicians have stepped up to the plate to endorse Harris, including Megan Thee Stallion, John Legend, Pink and Stevie Wonder — each of whom has performed at various campaign events — as well as Ariana Grande, Olivia Rodrigo, Demi Lovato, Quavo, Bon Iver, Barbra Streisand, Carole King and more. And in the meantime, Swifties for Kamala plan to continue advocating for Harris on behalf of the “Karma” artist’s fans, from raising awareness about the VP’s campaign to providing followers with voter registration resources.
“One of our goals is that we really want to make this almost a Swiftie safe space where people feel comfortable to be active in politics, especially younger voters and people who have never really participated in politics,” 22-year-old cofounder Emerald Medrano told Cosmo. “We combine voter registration information with, like, friendship bracelets initiatives. We’re bringing things from our fandom culture into a political space, which I think is a really cool way to help people open up and participate.”
The War and Treaty’s Tanya Blount was once a Bad Boys Records artist, and is expressing her thoughts about the allegations about the label’s founder, Sean “Diddy” Combs, that have risen in the years since.
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Blount was signed to the label in the 1990s, though her album with the company was never released. “Puffy was interesting because being with him was like — we didn’t see this Puffy that people are talking about now,” she recalled during a new episode of Bunnie XO’s Dumb Blonde podcast. “We never saw him drink, we never saw him smoke. I never saw that guy. Being around him was like school because you were literally learning while training.”
She added, “Everything has good and bad. I’m really appalled with the stuff I’m hearing about now. I had protection too. I was young but I had a manager who told me, ‘No you’re not going to that party.’ […] I also had God protecting me from whatever was happening. The people who experienced it, I really feel bad for them.”
In a devastating video, obtained by CNN earlier this year and dated March 5, 2016, Combs appears to shove his longtime former partner, Cassie Ventura, to the ground near an elevator bank, kick her several times while she lies on the ground and drag her down a hallway. The contents of the video mirror an assault allegation Ventura made in a now-settled lawsuit she filed against Diddy in November.
Shortly after, on May 19, Diddy took to social media to share a video of himself taking responsibility and apologizing for his actions in the disturbing clip. “It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, but sometimes you got to do that,” Diddy says in his Instagram video. “I was f—ed up. I mean, I hit rock bottom. But I make no excuses. My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I’m disgusted. I was disgusted then when I did it, I’m disgusted now.”
He continued, “I went out and sought professional help. Had to go into therapy, into rehab. Had to ask God for his mercy and grace. I’m so sorry. But I’m committed to being a better man each and every day. I’m not asking for forgiveness. I’m truly sorry.”
“The gut-wrenching video has only further confirmed the disturbing and predatory behavior of Mr. Combs,” said Ventura’s attorney, Douglas Wigdor, in a statement sent to Billboard. “Words cannot express the courage and fortitude that Ms. Ventura has shown in coming forward to bring this to light.”
Ventura was the first to accuse Diddy of sexual assault, filing a lawsuit in November in which attorneys for Cassie claimed she “endured over a decade of his violent behavior and disturbed demands,” including repeated physical attacks and forcing her to “engage in sex acts with male sex workers” while he masturbated. According to the complaint, after she attempted to separate from him in 2018 after an on-and-off public relationship for 11 years, Combs allegedly “forced her into her home and raped her while she repeatedly said ‘no’ and tried to push him away.” The case was soon settled, but Combs was then sued by multiple other women who claimed they were sexually abused by the hip-hop mogul.
“ENOUGH IS ENOUGH,” Diddy wrote on Instagram in December. “For the last couple of weeks, I have sat silently and watched people try to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation and my legacy. Sickening allegations have been made against me by individuals looking for a quick payday. Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.”
With the 2024 U.S. presidential election just 70 days away, the candidates — Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump — are pulling out all the stops to win the contest. But internet comedian Randy Rainbow is not impressed by the tactics of Trump’s embattled running mate, JD Vance. In his latest parody […]
Charli XCX accidentally on purpose drew herself into the current heated American presidential race with what she thought was an innocuous tribute to Vice President Kamala Harris’ ineffable, no f’s given qualities. And while her “Kamala IS Brat” tweet last month helped boost the enthusiasm about what was then the very-new White House campaign by the current VP-turned-Democratic-candidate, Charli told Vulture that the tweet fired off while hanging around her pool in L.A. was meant to be something “positive and lighthearted” rather than a strict political endorsement.
Just days after Harris announced her intention to run for the Democratic nomination following President Joe Biden’s historic decision to give up his second run for the nation’s top job, Charli made noise by announcing “Kamala IS brat.”
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The reference was to the title of XCX’s new album and a messy-on-purpose lifestyle Charli has described as someone who can be high lux at times, or who has a “pack of cigs, a Bic lighter and a strappy white top with no bra” at others. Very aware of what she was doing and how it might land, Charli watched as the Harris campaign immediately seized on what seemed like a cool girl nod to their insurgent effort, by instantly rebranding the Kamala HQ‘s X page with the same font and lime green logo style as the singer’s album title.
“To be on the right side of democracy, the right side of women’s rights, is hugely important to me,” said Charlie, who as a British citizen cannot vote in the U.S. election, but whose tweet became a cringe-worthy talking point on cable and broadcast news programs where confused anchors tried to figure out what the kids were talking about.
“I’m happy to help prevent democracy form failing forever,” she added, appearing to nod to the existential threat to the American political system that President Biden and Harris have said former President and third-time White House aspirant Donald Trump represents. “I obviously knew what I was doing.”
That said, she had no inkling the tweet would be seem more than 55 million times and turned into its own meta meme. “Did I think me talking about being a mess b–ch and, like partying and needing a Bic lighter and a pack of Marlboro Lights would end up on CNN? No,” she said, noting that she is not, and has never aspired to be, “a political artist… I’m not Bob Dylan and I’ve never pretended to be… My music is not political. Everything I do in my life feeds back into my art. Everything I say, wear, think, enjoy — it all funnels back into my art. Politics doesn’t feed my art.”
In the same interview, Charli revealed that she is already working on another “full-length other project” that will definitely be “in the bratosphere, so to speak.” At press time no additional information was available on that project.
Police are investigating the cause of death of a woman who was found unresponsive during the opening weekend of this year’s Burning Man gathering in the Arizona desert. According to the Reno Gazette Journal, the unnamed woman — whose age has also not yet been revealed — was found unresponsive at 11:29 a.m. on Sunday […]
A few of the songs on Eminem‘s The Death of Slim Shady: (Coup de Grâce) album hit a bit too close to home for the rapper’s daughter, Hailie Jade Scott. On this week’s episode of her Just a Little Shady podcast, Hailie tackled her emotional reaction to a pair of songs on Em’s Billboard 200 chart-topping twelfth LP that have a very personal message.
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“Speaking of things I watched this past week, which I guess I’ll say watched, but I refused to watch again — the ‘Somebody Save Me’ music video is out and I did watch the thing,” Hailie, 28, said of the emotional clip featuring footage of her as a child underneath lyrics from her dad lamenting the countless hours and days he missed due to his struggle with drugs and alcohol; Em celebrated 16 years of sobriety in April.
“I watched it in its entirety. I don’t think I can do it again. I definitely cry every time I hear it at all,” Hailie said of the song featuring Em lashing himself for his shortcomings as a father. “Another pill as I start to spiral/ Message to my daughters/ I don’t even deserve the father title/ Hailie, I’m so sorry/ I know I wasn’t there for your first guitar recital,” Eminem raps on the tune featuring a mournful chorus from Jelly Roll about seeking salvation. “Didn’t walk you down the aisle/ Missed the birth of your first child/ Your first podcast, lookin’ down, sweetie.”
The clip features home video footage of Hailie playing the guitar at a recital, walking across the stage for graduation and celebrating her birthday as well as video of Em’s other children, Alaina Marie Scott, 31, Stevie Laine Scott, 22 and his younger brother Nate in scenes that bring Em to his knees as he seeks forgiveness.
Hailie said in addition to getting emotional over the heartbreaking lyrics and video for “Somebody Save Me,” she also can’t quite bring herself to listen to another one of her dad’s new songs, the Skylar Grey collab “Temporary.” That song features audio of Hailie as a baby and Marshall rapping, “A lot of people ask me, am I afraid of death?/ The truth is, I think what scares me the most/ Is not being able to say all the things I wanna say to you/ When I’m no longer here/ So this song is for Hailie for when that day comes/ Where’s Hailie? Where’s she at?”
Co-host and BFF Brittany Ednie said she wasn’t sure when she’d be able to watch “Save Me” either. “I’m gonna have to brace myself for that one.” Ednie had listened to “Temporary,” however, and she said the song “broke me.”
For now it’s to too much for Hailie. “I audibly sobbed… I think for both songs, but especially ‘Temporary.’” However, after watching the video and listening to the songs, Hailie praised her parents for “doing such a good job” when she was growing up to shield her from the reality of “how bad things were. But now as an adult in hindsight it’s so scary to think about and I think that’s why I get emotional… I will say if you’ve ever lost an addict or loved one, I feel for you,” she added on the verge of tears.
Eminem shares Hailie with ex-wife Kim Scott and as any Slim Shady fan knows, the rapper and his ex have had a tumultuous history over the years. Hailie said she really enjoyed the video and watching clips of her and her siblings when thy were younger, though she noted that another very personal Eminem track, “Mockingbird,” is yet another one she can’t listen to anymore without getting very emotional. “The older I get the less I can listen to any of the songs,” she said.
Watch Hailie discuss her reaction to “Somebody Save Me” below.
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Macklemore said he canceled an upcoming October concert in Dubai over the United Arab Emirates’ role “in the ongoing genocide and humanitarian crisis” in Sudan through its reported support of the paramilitary force that’s been fighting government troops there.
The announcement by Macklemore reignited attention to the UAE’s role in the war gripping the African nation. While the UAE repeatedly has denied arming the Rapid Support Forces and supporting its leader Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, United Nations experts reported “credible” evidence in January that the Emirates sent weapons to the RSF several times a week from northern Chad.
Sudan plunged into chaos in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders broke out in the capital, Khartoum, and spread to other regions including Darfur. Estimates suggest over 18,800 people have been killed in the fighting, while over 10 million have fled their homes. Hundreds of thousands are on the brink of famine.
At a contentious U.N. Security Council meeting in June, Sudan’s embattled government directly accused the UAE of arming the RSF, and an Emirati diplomat angrily told his counterpart to stop “grandstanding.” The UAE has been a part in ongoing peace talks to end the fighting.
The Emirati Foreign Ministry offered no immediate comment on Macklemore’s public statement Sunday, nor did the city-state’s Dubai Media Office. Organizers last week announced the show had been canceled and refunds would be issued, without offering an explanation for the cancelation.
In a post Saturday on Instagram, Grammy winner Macklemore said he had a series of people “asking me to cancel the show in solidarity with the people of Sudan and to boycott doing business in the UAE for the role they are playing in the ongoing genocide and humanitarian crisis.”
Macklemore said he reconsidered the show in part over his recent, public support of Palestinians amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war raging in the Gaza Strip. He recently has begun performing a song called “Hind’s Hall,” in honor of a young girl named Hind Rajab killed in Gaza in a shooting Palestinians have blamed on Israeli forces opening fire on a civilian car.
“I know that this will probably jeopardize my future shows in the area, and I truly hate letting any of my fans down,” he wrote. “I was really excited too. But until the UAE stops arming and funding the RSF I will not perform there.”
He added: “I have no judgment against other artists performing in the UAE. But I do ask the question to my peers scheduled to play in Dubai: If we used our platforms to mobilize collective liberation, what could we accomplish?”
The RSF formed out of the Janjaweed fighters under then-Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who ruled the country for three decades before being overthrown during a popular uprising in 2019. He is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide and other crimes during the conflict in Darfur in the 2000s.
Dubai, home to the long-haul carrier Emirates, the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, and other tourist destinations, long has tried to draw A-list performers in the city-state at a brand-new arena and other venues. However, performers in the past have acknowledged the difficulties in performing in the UAE, a hereditarily ruled federation of seven sheikhdoms in which speech is tightly controlled.
That includes comedian Dave Chappelle, who drew attention in May in Abu Dhabi when he referred to the Israel-Hamas war as a “genocide” while also joking about the UAE’s vast surveillance apparatus.
Macklemore, a 41-year-old rapper born Benjamin Hammond Haggerty in Kent, Washington, won Grammy awards in 2014 for his breakout song, “Thrift Shop.”
The Isaac Hayes estate is taking Donald Trump to court.
On Friday (Aug. 23), the late soul singer’s son Isaac Hayes III announced on social media that a federal judge had granted his father’s estate an emergency hearing in their lawsuit against the former president, who has been using “Hold On, I’m Coming” without authorization during multiple campaign rallies.
“The Federal Court has granted our request for an Emergency Hearing to secure injunctive relief,” Hayes III wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “Donald Trump, the RNC, Trump, Trump for President Inc. 2024, Turning Point and The NRA are required to appear in court September 3rd, 2024 at the Northern U.S. District Federal Court in Atlanta. See you in court.”
On Aug. 11, lawyers for Isaac Hayes Enterprises filed a notice of copyright infringement and threatened further legal action against the Trump campaign over its use of the Sam & Dave classic at multiple Trump rallies without authorization from 2022-2024.
“Today, on the anniversary of my father Isaac Hayes’ death we have repeatedly asked Donald Trump, the RNC and his representatives not to use ‘Hold on I’m Coming’ written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter during campaign rallies but yet again, in Montana they used it,” Hayes III wrote on X on Aug. 10.
He added the following day, “We demand the cessation of use, removal of all related videos, a public disclaimer, and payment of $3 million in licensing fees by August 16, 2024. Failure to comply will result in further legal action.”
Hayes died Aug. 10, 2008, at the age of 65. He and David Porter wrote “Hold On, I’m Coming,” which was recorded by soul duo Sam & Dave, and issued on the Stax label in 1966, peaking at No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has had numerous run-ins with other musical acts. Scores of top artists and songwriters have objected to his campaign’s use of their songs at political rallies since he first ran for president in 2015, among them The Rolling Stones, Adele, Rihanna, Sinead O’Connor‘s estate and Aerosmith‘s Steven Tyler.
“It is most unfortunate that these artists have publicly posted on their social media and asked Team Trump and other candidates not to use their music — and yet their candidates keep using their music,” James L. Walker Jr., an attorney for Hayes Enterprises, previously stated.
On Friday, Foo Fighters joined the list of artists who are opposed to Trump using their music during his events. The Dave Grohl-fronted group’s 1997 anthem “My Hero” was played while Trump welcomed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the stage Glendale, Ariz., after the independent presidential candidate suspended his campaign and endorsed the Republican nominee.
“Foo Fighters were not asked permission, and if they were, they would not have granted it,” a spokesperson tells Billboard of the unauthorized usage. Furthermore, “appropriate actions are being taken” against the campaign, the spokesperson continues, and any royalties received as a result of this usage will be donated to the Kamala Harris/Tim Walz campaign.
The move marked the second time in the week — and third time in August — Trump’s campaign had run afoul of a superstar for using music without permission. On Tuesday (Aug. 22), Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung posted a 13-second video on his X account of footage of Trump stepping off a plane as Beyoncé’s “Freedom” played. The video arrived long after his opponent, Democratic presidential nominee Harris, had been using the song (with permission) for weeks.
Beyoncé’s record label and music publisher sent a cease-and-desist notice on Wednesday (Aug. 21) to Trump’s campaign over its use of “Freedom.” Later that evening, the video was deleted from Cheung’s X account.
See Isaac Hayes III’s posts on X below.
🚨Breaking 🚨The Federal Court has granted our request for an Emergency Hearing to secure injunctive relief.Donald Trump, @realdonaldtrump, the RNC, Trump, Trump for President Inc. 2024, Turning Point and The NRA are required to appear in court September 3rd, 2024 at the…— Isaac Hayes III (@IsaacHayes3) August 23, 2024
A 26-year-old man has turned himself into police, saying he was responsible for the Solingen knife attack that left three dead and eight wounded at a festival marking the city’s 650th anniversary, German authorities announced Sunday (Aug. 25).
Duesseldorf police said in a joint statement with the prosecutor’s office that the man “stated that he was responsible for the attack.”
“This person’s involvement in the crime is currently being intensively investigated,” the statement said.
Federal prosecutors said they were investigating on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and membership in a foreign terrorist organization. The suspect, wearing handcuffs and leg shackles, was taken later Sunday from the police station in Solingen to make a first appearance before a judge at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe.
The suspect is a Syrian citizen who had applied for asylum in Germany, police confirmed to The Associated Press. The dpa news agency reported, without citing a specific source, that his asylum claim had been denied and that he was to have been deported last year.
On Saturday (Aug. 24), the Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, without providing evidence. The extremist group said on its news site that the attacker targeted Christians and that the perpetrator carried out the assaults Friday night “to avenge Muslims in Palestine and everywhere.”
The claim couldn’t be independently verified. Only a small number of claims on the site have turned out to be completely baseless, said Peter Neumann, professor of security studies at King’s College London. However “ISIS’ strategy for a number of years has been to claim attacks which are merely ‘inspired’, in other words, in which the link between organization and attacker is merely ideological.”
Friday’s attack plunged the city of Solingen into shock and grief. A city of about 160,000 residents near the bigger cities of Cologne and Duesseldorf, Solingen was holding a “Festival of Diversity” to celebrate its anniversary.
People alerted police shortly after 9:30 p.m. local time Friday that a man had assaulted several people with a knife on the city’s central square, the Fronhof. The three people killed were two men aged 67 and 56 and a 56-year-old woman, authorities said. Police said the attacker appeared to have deliberately aimed for his victims’ throats.
The festival, which was due to have run through Sunday, was canceled as police looked for clues in the cordoned-off square. Instead, residents gathered to mourn the dead and injured, placing flowers and notes near the scene of the attack.
“Warum?” asked one sign placed amid candles and teddy bears. Why?
Among those asking themselves the question was 62-year-old Cord Boetther, a merchant fron Solingen.
“Why does something like this have to be done? It’s incomprehensible and it hurts,” Boetther said.
Officials had earlier said a 15-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion he knew about the planned attack and failed to inform authorities, but that he was not the attacker. Two female witnesses told police they overheard the boy and an unknown person before the attack speaking about intentions that corresponded to the bloodshed, officials said.
The attack comes amid debate over immigration ahead of regional elections next Sunday in Germany’s Saxony and Thueringia regions where anti-immigration parties such as the populist Alternative for Germany are expected to do well. In June, Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed that the country would start deporting criminals from Afghanistan and Syria again after a knife attack by an Afghan immigrant left one police officer dead and four more people injured.
The IS militant group declared its caliphate in large parts of Iraq and Syria about a decade ago, but now holds no control over any land and has lost many prominent leaders. The group is mostly out of global news headlines.
Still, it continues to recruit members and claim responsibility for deadly attacks around the world, including lethal operations in Iran and Russia earlier this year that killed dozens of people. Its sleeper cells in Syria and Iraq still carry out attacks on government forces in both countries as well as U.S.-backed Syrian fighters.